COVID plans put to test as firefighters crowd camps for peak wildfire season
Fire crews work the Twin Peaks fire near Lake Tahoe in California. COVID-19 is an overriding concern as firefighters crowd into fire camps during the wildfire season that typically peaks in August. (Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)
HELENA — Jon Paul was leery entering his first wildfire camp of the year late last month to fight three lightning-caused fires scorching parts of a Northern California forest that hadn’t burned in 40 years.
The 54-year-old engine captain from southern Oregon knew from experience that these crowded, grimy camps can be breeding grounds for norovirus and a respiratory illness that firefighters call the “camp crud” in a normal year...
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